Scripture Verse

I [am] determined not to know any thing…save Jesus Christ, and Him crucified. 1 Corinthians 2:2

Introduction

portrait
Charles Wesley (1707–1788)

Words: Charles Wes­ley, Hymns and Sac­red Po­ems 1742.

Music: Sher­bourne, from the 9th Sym­pho­ny of Lud­wig van Beet­ho­ven, 1824 (🔊 pdf nwc).

portrait
Ludwig van Beethoven (1770–1827)

In 1783, at the Bris­tol Con­fer­ence, Wes­ley was seized with a sud­den ill­ness, from which no one ex­pect­ed him to re­co­ver.

He told Jos­eph Brad­ford, ‘I have been re­flect­ing on my past life. I have been wan­der­ing up and down be­tween fif­ty and six­ty years, en­dea­vour­ing, in my poor way, to do a lit­tle good to my fel­low crea­tures; and now it is pro­ba­ble that there are but a few steps be­tween me and death; and what have I to trust to for sal­va­tion? I can see no­thing that I have done or suf­fered that will bear look­ing at. I have no oth­er plea than this—

I the chief of sinners am,
But Jesus died for me.’

…

Charles Wes­ley’s daugh­ter, Sar­ah, died in Bris­tol on Sep­tem­ber 9, 1828, when near­ly se­ven­ty years old. Jo­seph Ent­wisle vi­sit­ed her on her death-bed. She was too weak to talk much, but would oft­en re­peat the same lines. They were al­most her last words.

She was bur­ied in St. James’ church­yard, Bris­tol, where five in­fant child­ren of Charles Wes­ley’s had been laid to rest. Her fa­ther’s vers­es were put on her grave­stone.

Telford, pp. 216–17

Lyrics

Let the world their vir­tue boast,
Their works of right­eous­ness,
I, a wretch un­done and lost,
Am free­ly saved by grace;
Other ti­tle I dis­claim;
This, on­ly this, is all my plea:
I the chief of sin­ners am,
But Je­sus died for me.

I, like Gi­de­on’s fleece, am found
Unwatered still, and dry,
While the dew on all around,
Falls plen­te­ous from the sky;
Yet my Lord I can­not blame,
The Sav­ior’s grace for all is free:
I the chief of sin­ners am,
But Je­sus died for me.

Surely He will lift me up,
For I of Him have need;
I can­not give up my hope,
Though I am cold and dead;
To bring fire on earth He came;
O that it now might kin­dled be!
I the chief of sin­ners am,
But Je­sus died for me.

Jesus, Thou for me hast died,
And Thou in me wilt live;
I shall feel Thy death ap­plied,
I shall Thy life re­ceive;
Yet, when melt­ed in the flame
Of love, this shall be all my plea:
I the chief of sin­ners am,
But Je­sus died for me.